Balloonatic

This Buster Keaton short has a very good title. But as you will discover there really isn't much actual ballooning in it. As you might expect from a short film its pretty simplistic. It begins at a fun-house where Keaton accidentally hitches a ride in a hot air balloon. He is propelled miles away and winds up in the wilderness. He meets a girl out here who isn't initially too keen on him but together they get in to all manner of scrapes including some memorable scenes with grizzly bears.

It would be fair to say that this is not a great feature. It doesn't have a very cohesive narrative and essentially boils down to a series of gags loosely connected into the synopsis above. It's really mainly recommended to fans of Keaton and/or silent slapstick in general. Others might be a bit underwhelmed.

It is not exactly the comedy who you expect. It is not the portrait of "baloonatic" defined by title. But a sweet story about a young man across different forms of adventure, victim of events, having as end of the long trip the love story as crown of efforts to be happy. Special for the simplicity with nostalgic flavor, it is just the window to a lost world of film.

Buster Keaton produced many wonderful short films – 'The Love Nest (1923)' is my favourite so far – but, unfortunately, 'The Balloonatic (1923)' isn't one of them. Despite a fair share of funny jokes, the film is basically comprised of a number of different gags strung together with a flimsy pretense, and so it lacks any narrative cohesiveness. Considering that this was released in the same year as the feature 'Our Hospitality (1923),' which had a terrifically-dark storyline to complement the jokes, this short really does come across as disappointing. Indeed, even the title promises more than the film actually delivers, with barely a quarter of the running time concerned with hot-air balloons. However, cast aside these trivial complaints, and you can simply enjoy Buster's antics for what they are. The actor/director's comedic work still sparkles with imagination and creativity, and few entertainers could have achieved such hilarious results with something as simple as a collapsible canoe. Also, it beats me how he avoided drowning on at least one occasion.

The story opens at a carnival, where hopeless romantic Buster goes out looking for love in a "House of Trouble." As always, it's interesting to note just how stone-faced he remains as numerous ominous figures emerge from dark doorways; his body language communicates fear and panic, but his facial expressions remains astonishingly deadpan. After finding his way out of the attraction, Buster then ruins a perfectly good jacket in being kind to a beautiful lady, before earning a black eye from another pretty girl (Phyllis Haver) who presumably rejected his advances. Buster then inadvertently catches a ride on the top of a hot-air balloon, which brings him down in the middle of the wilderness, where – surprise! – the girl who punched him is enjoying a lonely fishing trip. The pair try their best to ignore each other, thinking up elaborate techniques to survive comfortably in the forest, until all that remains is for Buster and Phyllis to fall in love. This silly story makes for some enjoyable enough gags, including, most memorably, Buster's face-to-face meeting with two curious bears.

This is the only short feature of Buster Keaton's I have seen, it is funnier than I thought, what with the bear chases and the hot air baloon. However, it didn't seem as sophisticated, clever or as funny as "The General" or "Our Hospitality", it was lacking the usual clever, knowing edge of silent films e.g. Sunrise, The Kid. Which has now been replaced by CGI. Saying ll that, some of the stunts in it are extremely cool and really funny, perhaps the best introduction to Keaton. It is available on "Seven Chances" and on "Buster Keaton Shorts (Volume 1), along with Convict 22 and other things.

Good, not brilliant, ****/****

Well, don't get too excited over the title - there are very little actual ballooning in the movie. No big stunts either, just cheap slapstick gags which some are great, but overall, the film can be quite a disappointment to big Buster Keaton's fans.

Buster Keaton stars as a young man who is so inept at anything, and being so oblivious about his own bumbling ways that it is almost hard to bear. His adventures start at the fun house of the amusement park, where Buster tries to amuse himself at someone's else expense. After failed attempt to hit on a girl on a boat ride, Buster stumbles on a hot air balloon that takes him into the wilderness. Trying to survive in the nature Buster has to overcome many obstacles, to win the heart of a girl.